Pigeons

Jonathan Player for The New York Times

News about pigeons, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Apr. 5, 2015

Real Estate Q&A on handling neighbor who feeds and attracts pigeons to common courtyard, getting consent for alterations in a rent-controlled apartment and taking over a sponsor unit in a noneviction co-op when original tenant dies. MORE

Nov. 7, 2014

Jim Dwyer About New York column shares story of Rene LeClerc, street-tough New Yorker who has been raising pigeons in Hamilton Heights neighborhood of Manhattan for nearly 50 years. MORE

Aug. 31, 2014

Op-Ed article by John W Fitzpatrick, executive director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, questions whether the passenger pigeon has taught America anything about conservation on the 100th anniversary of its extinction; contends the tragedy of the passenger pigeon should exhort Americans to have courage to redouble efforts in protecting endangered species. MORE

Nov. 22, 2013

Hacipasa Journal; Syria's pigeon collectors are among the most ardent in the Arab world, and many refuse to leave their pigeons behind when they cross border into Turkish city of Hacipasa; many have gone to great lengths to pursue their hobby in exile, whether fleeing to Turkey, Lebanon or Jordan, since Syria's civil war is not expected to end any time soon. MORE

Oct. 26, 2013

Juliet Macur Sports Of The Times column notes that obscure sport of pigeon racing is latest to be rocked by doping scandal after six Belgian birds failed tests for banned performance-enhancing drugs, including painkillers. MORE

Aug. 4, 2013

Character Study column on William MacLeod, who raised pair of pigeon chicks he found on ground in New York City and has since become fan and advocate. MORE

Apr. 4, 2013

New York City's subculture of people who raise pigeons on rooftops is becoming more diverse as city's neighborhoods experience racial shifts, but is also a dwindling hobby as fewer young people express interest in maintaining the coops. MORE

Feb. 5, 2013

Team led by Dr Michael D Shapiro has sequenced DNA of 40 different breeds of pigeon in effort to understand mutations that produce radically new kinds of anatomy; findings are published in journal Science. MORE

Nov. 24, 2012

Britain’s code-breakers acknowledge that an encrypted message from World War II, found on the leg of a long-dead carrier pigeon, has thwarted all their efforts to decode it. MORE

Nov. 2, 2012

Memo from Europe; campaign by pigeon fans has prompted message attached to leg of World War II military carrier pigeon, whose skeletal remains were found in a chimney in Surrey in 1982, to be sent to Britain’s top-secret GCHQ listening post and decoding department outside London; authorities say they cannot reveal what is in message until code is broken. MORE

Apr. 27, 2012

Le-Qing Wu and Dr David Dickman study in journal Science Express identifies cells in a pigeon's brain that record detailed information on the earth's magnetic field, allowing the birds to navigate in the dark. MORE

Mar. 19, 2012

Metropolitan Transportation Authority installs a bird call system to deal with the pigeon problems at the Roosevelt Island subway station; officials decided to try the system after previous efforts to rid the station of the birds, which leave a mess of feathers and droppings, failed to control the issue. MORE

Feb. 5, 2012

New York City Pigeon Rescue Central, group formed of pigeon lovers, animal activists and eccentrics, rescues and rehabilitates injured pigeons from streets. MORE

Dec. 23, 2011

Report published in the journal Science has found that pigeons can learn abstract rules about numbers, an ability that had previously only been demonstrated in primates. MORE